Upcoming PS3 exclusive shooter Haze will not run at 720p as stated by this PlayStation Blog post. Instead, it is going to run at 576p as confirmed by developer Free Radical.

Speaking to Ripten, the game’s creative lead Derek Littlewood said: “We prioritize a nice smooth framerate over a different resolution.” He added that making the game look good and run smoothly are the “important things” to him.

“I always say, judge it by the whole experience. Sit down with it and enjoy it. If people come away from that saying ‘Yeah, the resolution was a bit lower than I was expecting’ then I hope people wouldn’t, because it has other things it does really well.”

It was also revealed that the game would require a mandatory 4GB install before playing.

The game is due out later this week only on the PS3.

It’s no secret that developing on the PS3 is difficult, or in other words “more challenging” than the Xbox 360, but it’s always news when a developer publicly admits it.

The latest one comes from Massive Entertainment, the studio behind the console port of World in Conflict. Originally released for PC last year, the game is now being reworked for PS3 and Xbox 360; the developer has gone on record to say that the PS3 version has been the more challenging platform of the two, but they still plan on offering the same content on either consoles, noting that there might still be some minor graphical differences, but that gamers are going to have “virtually identical experiences.”

The console version of the game is expected to be released sometime later this year.

Following the trend of acquisitions in the gaming industry set by the mergers between Activision and Vivendi, as well as EA’s attempted takeover of Take-Two, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has announced plans to invest in rival publishers and developers to combat rising competition from both new and established companies.

“Economies of scale and breadth of scope is getting important. It may be a business alliance or it may be us taking a stake in others, but we need to go beyond traditional Square Enix,” Wada said. “We face competition not only from Japanese videogame companies but from game companies worldwide. We also see some new players from outside the videogame industry coming in.”

No specific companies were mentioned.

Remember how Gothic 4 was rechristened Arcania: A Gothic Tale yesterday? Gamespot follows up on their coverage of the game by offering a preview of the upcoming title, offering a segment that explains the name change for the North American version of the RPG. Here it is:

The name change serves two purposes. First, it hints at a world rich in magic and fantasy. Second, and completely from a marketing perspective, it helps give the Gothic franchise a fresh start in North America, where it has failed to gain significant popularity. And gaining popularity in the good old US-of-A is goal one for DreamCatcher. The team invested months of research into the differences between European and American gaming preferences, so much so that there will be two different color palettes for Arcania: North American (bright and beautiful) and European (muted and gritty). Truth be told, we didn’t notice much of a difference when DreamCatcher stopped by our office to show off a very early build of Arcania, but you have to admire the attention to detail.

The game is due out later this year.